ek9 steering rack

Why was hydraulic power-steering replaced with electrical-assist if the former gave a better steering feel?

An electric motor being used only when needed is less of a parasitic drag than that of a constant speed hydraulic pump. This saves maybe 1litre of fuel over the cars lifetime than that of a HYD pump (*joke) But has resulted in most cars equipped with electric steering feeling a bit dull & neutered.. Drive an EP3 civic type-R then go drive an EK9 & you’ll see what I’m getting at. I’ll take the lesser fuel economy in exchange for better handling and a cheaper repair when it goes wrong. A hydraulic steering pump tends to give little if any trouble at all.. so long as you drain the HYD fluid at correct intervals. An electric rack however.. it relies on speed sensors from the ABS system to vary assistances to the driver so you don’t have flighty steering at high speed & crash. It also requires input from a steering angle sensor & then there’s the motor itself that does eventually wear out as it’s brush blocks reach the end of their life.. This integration usually needs diagnostic software to program all of this back together should you replace a defunct rack = this costs a lot of extra cash that the evil inefficient HYD system did not. S.